1 goal and 1 assist by former NHLer and current SKA captain Dimitry Kalinin put the final nail in the coffin for Cherepovets in their 4-2 Game Four loss to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg also got a goal from former Lightning forward Evgeny Artyukhin. Ex-Lightning draft pick Denis Kazionov did have a goal in defeat for Severstal. He finishes his playoffs with 2 goals and 3 points in 9 games with 56 penalty minutes and a even rating. SKA is the first KHL team through to the Conference Finals round of the Gagarin Cup Playoffs.

Michael Garnett stopped all 24 shots he faced to lead Chelyabinsk to a key 3-0, Game Three win over Omsk. Ex-Lightning netminder Karri Ramo stopped 17 in defeat. Nikita Nesterov did not dress for the match for Traktor. Game Four is Wednesday.

Young Valery Nichushkin, a potential top-10 pick in this summer's draft, scored a pair of goals to lead Chelyabinsk to a 3-0 Game Two win over Omsk. Goaltender Michael Garnett stopped all 21 shots he faced for the shutout. Ex-Lightning netminder Karri Ramo took the loss for Omsk. Nikita Nesterov played just 5 shifts and 3:59 of ice time after being scratched in Game One. Game Three is Tuesday.

Ex-Coyotes first rounder Viktor Tikhonov had 2 goals and ex-Lightning forward Evgeny Artyukhin had an assist as SKA pounded Severstal 4-1 in Game Two of their Semifinal series. Former Lightning draft pick Denis Kazionov did not dress after being booted out of Game One with a boarding major. Monday is Game Three.

Nikita Nesterov did not dress in Chelyabinsk's 5-0 shutout of Omsk. Ex-Thrashers draft pick Michael Garnett stopped all 33 shots he faced for Chelyabinsk. Ex-Lightning goaltender Karri Ramo took the loss for Omsk. Game Two is Saturday.

Game Seven is no place for a rookie. That's why Nikita Nesterov only got 2 shifts and 1:01 of ice time in Chelyabinsk's 5-3 win over Astana. Ex-Blackhawks draft pick Petri Kontiola led the way with 2 goals, including the game winner. Astana got a goal from former Lightning forward Brandon Bochenski in defeat. Traktor moves on to face 2 seed Avangard Omsk.

Iiro Tarkki stopped all 17 shots he faced in Ufa's 2-0 Game Seven win over Magnitogorsk. Ex-NHLer Nikita Filatov scored the game winning goal. Lightning prospect Andrey Vasilevskiy has not played in the playoffs thus far. Ufa draws the top seed, Ak Bars Kazan, in the next round.

Nikita Nesterov assisted on a Second Period goal and took two minors for roughing in Chelyabinsk's 4-2 Game Six loss to Astana. The defenseman did all that in just 4:36 of ice time. Ex-NHLer Nigel Dawes led the way for Astana with his 6th and 7th goals of the playoffs. Game Seven is Tuesday.